Men Vs. Women when Using Marijuana

Research has discovered that men and women may experience different results when using marijuana. A 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that men are 50% more likely to have smoked marijuana in the last month then women. (Source) It's believed that cannabis responds to estrogen differently than testosterone, which is the reason why the effects differ by gender.

A 2014 Washington State University study showed that female rats experience greater negative side effects after cannabis usage than male rats. The females showed a greater sensitivity to painkilling properties which made the cannabis more effective. The adverse development of tolerance with females also made them more likely to become dependent on the drug. During ovulation, increased estrogen resulted in greater sensitivity.(Source)

Margaret Haney at the Columbia University Medical Center has studied female usage of cannabis and withdrawal. Due to their increased dependence, she has shown that withdrawal can be more severe for women. Lack of appetite, insomnia, and irritability has reported to be more severe in women who stop using marijuana. She states that the only sensitivity experienced by men after using marijuana is an increased appetite.

Source:

http://www.drugandalcoholdependence.com/article/S0376-8716%2814%2901018-7/abstract

http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2014/06/do-women-actually-smoke-less-cannabis-than-men/

https://news.wsu.edu/2014/09/03/females-more-sensitive-to-cannabis-males-get-munchies/#.VY9Dz0aDCM8

A Theory on Addiction

America's handling of the drug abuse problem has not been a success. In June 1971, President Nixon declared a “War on Drugs” saying that drug abuse was “Public Enemy No. 1”. The political figures continued this war with Nancy Reagan running a campaign of “Just Say No”. Four decades after the start of the War on Drugs Americans have paid more than 1 trillion dollars in arrests and imprisonment for this war. In 2010 more than 50% of all federal prisoners were arrested for drug crimes.(Source)

War on Drug has Increased Prison Population

In Johann Hari new book 'Chasing The Scream - The First And Last Days of the War on Drugs' he shows a different cure to societies addiction problem. He states that addiction comes from being lonely, isolated or depressed with their environment. Instead of looking at it as an addiction problem, Johann Hari says it is more like a bonding problem. He states that when animals are in a positive environment, the addiction tendencies fall to the wayside.(Source)

This concept by Johann Hari's is demonstrated in a study with mice and two water bottles. The mice in the study were given an option to drink from a water bottle containing water or water laced with heroin or cocaine. The mice were in small cages and in isolation. The water with drugs were always chosen. Another study is well known as Bruce Alexander's “Rat Park”. The mice were put in the cage with other mice, food, more space and exercise equipment. With a better environment to live in, the mice chose the water that did not have drugs.(Source)

Johann Hari's theory is justified in a living example of history. The American soldiers that went to Vietnam were found to have a large heroin addiction problem. Forty percent of soldiers had tried heroin and 20 percent were addicted. The government was setting up for a large rehabilitation program to deal with the soldiers coming home after the war. Surprisingly ninety-five percent of the soldiers that were addicted stopped on their own when they returned home. This confirms the correlation between a positive environment and a decrease in addictive behavior.(Source)

Hari shows and example of a government showing postive results with reducing addiction. Portugal has shown proof of social to bonding reducing addiction for the last fifteen years. With one of the worst drug problems in Europe, Portugal decriminalized all drugs. The money they saved on drug related arrests and imprisonment was used for reconnecting people. They used the money for subsidized jobs, housing and clinics to socially deal with their problems in a comforting way. With this new approach Portugal's injection drug use is down by 50 percent. America with it's drug addiction failings can benefit from decriminalizing drugs and improving social society.(Source)

Source:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/drug-war-mass-incarceration_n_3034310.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html

http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/sen/committee/371/ille/presentation/alexender-e.htm

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1521-0391.2010.00046.x/abstract

http://bjc.oxfordjournals.org/content/50/6/999.abstract

5 Benefits for Marijuana over Opiates to Treat Pain

  More than 1.5 billion people suffer from chronic pain and approximately 4% suffer from neuropathic pain worldwide.(Source) Opiates are the most common prescribed medication for pain in the United States. Research has shown that the success rate of opiates for treating pain is 30-40% with horrible side effects.(Source) In 2007 prescription pain killers contributed to 42% of all drug deaths in America.(Source) Research has shown that Cannabis is a favorable alternative to opiate pain medication.

Benefit #1 Cannabis Treats your Emotional Response to Pain

  In 2010 Oxford University conducted a study on how pain is perceived. In the study volunteers were told if electric charges would be dangerous or not before they received them. The perception of danger made the charges more painful. The brain felt pain before the charge was administered.(Source)

Cannabis relaxes the emotional response by affecting the brain receptors that deal with emotion.

Benefit #2 Cannabis Reduces Cancer Growth

  Many studies have shown that marijuana lowers cancer cell growth.(Source) In 2012 the University of Chicago put out a report to showing that opiates may increase cancer growth. Jonathan Moss, MD, PhD, professor of anesthesiology and critical care at the University of Chicago Medicine said "Epidemiologic findings suggest that the type of anesthesia we do for cancer surgery influences recurrence rate, and laboratory studies demonstrate that opioids influence tumor progression and metastasis,". In another study, cancer cells in the lungs show 5-10 times as many opiod receptors than non-cancer cells.(Source)

Benefit #3 Cannabis is Less Addictive than Opiates

  A study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that 9% of cannabis users have an addiction problem.(Source) To put this in perspective, 8% of Americans are addicted to Facebook, checking their account 11 or more times a day.(Source) Heroin is an opiate that has a 23% abuse rate.(Source) In 2010 two million people reported using prescription painkillers for non-medical reasons in a one year period (5,500 a day).(Source)

Benefit #4 Cannabis Reduces Side Effects that Opiates Have

  Opiates are Central Nervous System (CNS) Depressants. If the CNS is overly-depressed too far this can result in difficulty with the heart beating or the ability to breathe.(Source) Other side effects include hormonal imbalance, constipation, nausea, and drowsiness.(Source) Studies have found that using cannabis along with opiates reduces side effects and decreases addiction.(Source)

Benefit #5 Cannabis Overdose Deaths = 0

  There have been no reported overdose deaths for marijuana. (Source) In 2010 the number of opiate overdose deaths were 16,651. Six percent of people who use prescribed opiates use it as a gateway drug for heroin use. (Source) In 2012 the opioid heroin use resulted in 5,925 deaths as a result of overdose.

Source:

http://www.prweb.com/pdfdownload/8052240.pdf

http://cannabisnowmagazine.com/cannabis/medical/marijuana-works-better-than-opiates-to-control-pain-heres-how

http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/pdf/poison-issue-brief.pdf

http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Relieving-Pain-in-America-A-Blueprint-for-Transforming-Prevention-Care-Education-Research.aspx

http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2012/20120321-opioid.html

http://justiniskandar.empowernetwork.com/blog/internet-and-facebook-addiction

http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/heroin

http://archive.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2k11Results/NSDUHresults2011.htm

http://cannabisnowmagazine.com/cannabis/medical/marijuana-works-better-than-opiates-to-control-pain-heres-how

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22880540

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/causes_of_death#sthash.q4PDb6Tl.dpbs

Cannabis use Lowers Alcohol Consumption

With the recent legalization of marijuana as a recreation use, alcohol consumption has gone down. This result was first theorized and studied in the late 1960's and 70's. DUI arrests, driving fatalities under alcohol influence, and drug overdose has gone down in Colorado and Washington where recreational marijuana use has become legal.

In 1968, Alfred R. Lindesmith, a sociologist talked about how pot smokers have an aversion to alcohol, much like how Hindus in India regard alcohol as taboo, while incorporating ganja as part of their ritual. John Kaplan from Stanford University in 1970 wrote, Marijuana, the New Prohibition states that a large percentage of marijuana users cut down alcohol use after starting use of marijuana. Richard Blum's data in the book showed that 54% of weekly marijuana users reduced alcohol use, while 89% of daily users reduced their consumption. (Source)

An online study in Australia surveyed 1,994 people broken up into groups of marijuana users, alcohol users and stimulant drugs such as ecstasy. The research purpose was to find if use of other drugs encourages people to drink more alcohol. With the three groups, ecstacy and alcohol users binged with excessive alcohol use, while marijuana users did not. (Source)

A study published in the Journal of Law and Economics showed that there is a 8-11% drop in traffic fatalities associated with legalizing medical marijuana. The findings were the same amount in alcohol related accidents which concluded that legalizing marijuana resulted in less drinking. (Source) This study has been put into practice in Colorado where as the miles driven goes up yearly, driving fatalities as legalization of marijuana takes effect has gone down by 9 percent. The study went on to report that after the legalization beer sales were down in the state by 5 percent. (Source) In Washington state, drunk driving arrests went down 11% after legalizing marijuana. (Source)

With a reduction of alcohol usage, one can infer that alcohol intoxication leading to overdose death will go down, but studies aren't out yet. Studies do show a reduction in opioid drug overdose deaths with the legalization of marijuana. (Source) The DEA has been pressured to remove marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, which would allow for more research regarding cannabis use and it's effects on society.(Source)

Source:

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/cu/cu58.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24975774

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1086/668812?uid=2&uid=4&sid=21103919484243

http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract?dp_id=6112

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobsullum/2014/04/03/more-pot-safer-roads-marijuana-legalization-could-bring-unexpected-benefits/

http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1898878

How Marijuana Effects GABA in the Nervous System

In short, GABA is a neurotransmitter in the mammal central nervous system that can repress excitability in the neurons in the nervous system and regulation in muscle tone. GABA is an abbreviation for gamma-Aminobutyric Acid which is an amino acid, which are secondary to water to being the biggest component in cells, tissue and muscle that are critical to biosynthesis and being a neurotransmitter. Cannabis plays a crucial role with the endocannabinoid system in suppressing the GABA, aiding in increasing dopamine levels which can help in treatments with medical marijuana.

GABA acts differently in stages of life, playing a roll in the developing brain as an excitatory component in the brain, while in adulthood acting as an inhibition in the brain. GABA regulates embryonic and neural stem cell growth. GABA has been found in the intestine, stomach, pancreas, fallopian tubes, uterus, ovaries, testis, kidney, bladder, lung, liver, lungs, melatonin and eye lens.(Source)

GABA makes up 40% of nerve cells, where glutamate makes up 30%. Glutamate offers excitability to the nervous system and also the brain synthesizes glutamate into GABA, which regulates the excitability, causing a check and balance, or ying and yang effect of controlling the functions. GABA inhibits nerve cells from growing, aggressive behavior, and regulates hyperactivity. (Source)

How Marijuana Inhibits GABA

Marijuana use effects the neurotransmitter GABA by blocking it. The result is increasing dopamine levels which normally GABA inhibits or regulates. Dopamine offers a mood shift of reward for the brain that is released with sex, exercise, appetite, learning, sleep, movement and mood.(Source)

Cannabis effects the cannabinoid receptors, namely Cb1 and Cb2 that mimic a naturally created endogenous molecule, anadamide. Anadamide is an Omega 6 fatty acid that regulates appetite, cognition, emotion, memory, mood and pain. Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other Cannabinoids found in marijuana can effect anadamide and therefore effect the endocannabinoid central nervous system.

THC, for instance, binds to the CB1 receptors, which reduces the enzyme cAMP which results in less protein kinase A. This results in potassium and calcium channels that ends up reducing the amount of neurotransmitters being released. This chemical reaction is the result of reducing GABA. A reduction in GABA results in an increase in dopamine. Dopamine do not effect the CB1 receptors. (Source)

Treatments From Inhibiting GABA

Research is still needed for more conclusive results, but promising studies and theories show that cannabis can be an effective treatment for it's ability to effect GABA including:

• Tinnitus – A brain induced ringing in the ear.

• Fibromyalgia – Tenderness in joints, muscles and other soft tissues.

• Anxiety – Stress inducing fear, unease and worry.

• Addiction – The difficulty to stop using substances.

• Schizophrenia – Difficulty knowing what is real and not, thinking clearly to have normal responses.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Aminobutyric_acid

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/05/10/marijuana-dopamine-science/

http://countyourculture.com/tag/gaba/

http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_03/i_03_m/i_03_m_par/i_03_m_par_cannabis.html